managing potential supporters
DESCRIPTION
So someone signs up for your organization’s communications…now what? Do you have a process in place to follow-up with the people that have expressed an interest in your mission? Join us for a brown bag session where we’ll discuss the systems you need to effectively interact with potential volunteers, donors, and advocates who encounter your organization. We’ll share smart strategies for engaging community supporters.TRANSCRIPT
Managing Your Supporters
Npower Northwest
• Vision: a thriving community with high performing nonprofits
• Mission: to strengthen the nonprofit sector by catalyzing innovation and driving adoption of technology solutions
Introductions
Elissa Thomas
HandsOn Tech Corps AmeriCorps VISTA
Serving at NPower Northwest
Road Map
• Priority & Process
• Getting Specific
• Q&A
Set Goals
Be clear about what you intend to do
Engagement goals
• Know who your supporters are – esp. the why
• Present impactful, appropriate opportunities
• Record actions & feed data back into analysis
• Move supporters up the “engagement ladder”
• Remember the ultimate goal is building relationships
Ladder of engagement
• At the bottom, communications are more automated and you can reach more people.
• At the top, relationships are more personal and labor-intensive.
Definition: data management
• Data management is the process of collecting, organizing, and managing data as an important organizational resource.
• To manage data effectively is to bridge the gap between inputs – hard data sets – and outputs – information or analysis – that an organization can use to make decisions and demonstrate a measurable community impact.
Life cycle of data
Actual life cycle of data
Process review
• What is your current process on recruiting and managing supporters?
• How do you want it to look?
Use technology that helps
Fit the technology to how you work,
not your organization to the technology
3 rules of data management
• Standardize what you’ve got.
• Use technology to collect what you don’t.
• Be consistent.
Consistency, the cloud, and collaboration
• Standardize data entry
• Establish common formats
• Make use of shared workspace tools
• Set up a central repository
Cloud computing
Databases – Why use a CRM?
• Centralized storage
• Relational
• Integrates with other channels
• Useful for sending out communications
• Tracks campaigns, events, etc.
• Organizational record-keeping
• Metrics & reporting
• Allows customizable interactions for different constituent groups
• Analysis capabilities for better decision-making
The Social CRM
• Incorporates member’s social media profile information into the database
• Tracks social media interactions alongside other data (donations, emails received, etc.)
• Builds a list of social media followers who are NOT members in the database
• Assists with member recruitment & retention
• Allows for mapping of social connections
Metrics – data exhaust
• # constituents/donors/volunteers/board members/program attendees
• Facebook followers, likes, posts by your organization, comments on posts
• Twitter followers, tweets by your organization, mentions, and retweets
• Blog posts and comments
• Newsletters sent, subscribed, unsubscribed, opened, clicked through
• Website visits, visitors, page views, top referral sources, RSS subscribers
Measurement tools
• Database reports
• Facebook Insights
• SocialBro for Twitter
• Google Analytics for blog, website metrics
• Newsletter software reports (MailChimp, Constant Contact, and VerticalResponse all include social media tracking)
Reflection
• How do you see technology helping your constituent management process?
Take Aways
• Priorities dictate process
• Know your supporters
• Standardize and share
Resources
• NPower Northwest: www.npowernw.org
• 501 Commons: www.501commons.org
• NTEN: www.nten.org
• TechSoup: www.techsoup.org
• IdealWare: www.idealware.org
In closing
“When you need a friend, it’s too late to make one”
– Mark Twain
Q & A